Plaza House / Grimaldi - Nacht arquitectos

Curated by Benjamin Zapico

Architects: Grimaldi - Nacht arquitectos
Area: 557 m²
Year: 2023
Photographs:Javier Agustin Rojas
Lead Architects: Mariano Mennucci, Leonardo Nacht, Arturo Grimaldi

Text description provided by the architects. Casa Plaza is located 200 meters above sea level on the south slope of Lake Gutiérrez in San Carlos de Bariloche, Rio Negro Province, Argentina, surrounded by a large Coihues forest with great views of the lake axis.

The project has its genesis in Inca cities, where different platforms articulate and connect four volumes arranged along the mountain slope. These volumes define and organize the different uses of the house and are connected through a large square located on the axis of the complex, which is the place of contemplation and recreation.

The project occupies 557 m² within a total area of 10,000 m². Its location on the site was highly restricted due to being within a protected forest. This fact determined the development area of the project, to avoid tree felling. The current access road to the complex is an old cattle road. The house is supported on piles that do not affect the natural slope of the terrain and generate free flow.

From the atomization of the program, the privacy of the different spaces of the complex was sought to be regulated, separating and regulating their use, allowing efficient use, where each space creates a different atmosphere and quality. The project had to provide spaces that allowed flexibility of recreational and use programs, both interior and exterior, as well as a wide variety of uses capable of adapting to the needs of the different seasons of the complex. The most public spaces were also sought to be linked to the heart of the complex, increasing meeting and social spaces.

The guest volume (two rooms) and the main volume are connected by a bridge. The large common rooms provide a warm environment, with a large kitchen-dining room, and living room, all accompanied by fireplaces. Due to the extreme slope and internal regulations of the club, the underneath of some volumes contains alternative programs (pool, sauna, lounges, fireplace).

The square, as the social center of the house, is linked to the block of more public character: the playroom/game room. Built entirely of stone, this block provides a cinema, grill, kitchen, and bathroom. The square serves as an expansion of these uses, equipped with a table and a fire pit. A large lapacho perimeter bench closes and accompanies the organic limit of the square in its views toward the lake.

Two of the four volumes are clad in burnt Pacara wood on their exterior with a black sheet metal roof, supported on a reinforced concrete slab, iron columns. Another volume combines wood and stone in its contact with the natural terrain and a last semi-buried volume, which faces the square, entirely of stone and black sheet metal. Inside, all the blocks are fully clad in Bolivian Lapacho and Petiribi wood carpentry.